Who’s Linking My Website?

We spend so long trying to improve our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by posting guest posts we often forget people will actually link to our website of their own free will. This is referred to as organic linking. It’s the best sort of linking as search engines consider it far more valuable than artificial linking.

So why would someone want to link to your website and how can you find out if someone is doing this?

Backlinks and SEO

Backlinks from other blogs and websites to a page on your website act as ‘likes’ for your website. It’s a vote of confidence from someone else. It makes it more likely your website will rank higher because, to Google, it’s like people are saying your website is more useful than someone else’s.

It’s not about numbers, though. It’s about the quality of the links. The quality of the link depends on where the link has been posted. A link on CNN would be much more useful than a link on some random affiliate marketer’s website.

So How Can I Know?

There are a number of tools which can help you find out who is linking to your website. For now, the best option is Ahrefs. Ahrefs provides everyone with a few queries each day. You have to sign up for an account if you want to run an unlimited amount of searches. These searches are unbelievably accurate and no other piece of software comes close to it.

The search bar in the centre of the homepage is what you want to be looking at. Enter your web page address into the bar and click ‘Search’.

Initially, the results might be a tad confusing. Read each tab carefully and you’ll gradually begin to understand things. It doesn’t give you any raw data. It converts the data into dated graphs. These graphs can run back up to four months. They show you how many links you’ve gained in the last four months, as well as the ones you’ve lost.

You can find out the details of your links. Click on each tab to find out who’s linking to you from which page. It clearly labels the lost links and the new links. Since you have the full list of domains, you can find out if the site is a ‘.gov’, ‘.net’, or ‘.com’ website.

The top linked sites are at the top. You’ll also get a list of the domains you’re linking to, along with the anchor texts. Dig deeper by clicking on the tabs within each tab. For example, you can find out which anchor link is the most popular for linking to your website.

The free search feature is limited, especially if you have a large number of websites, but there are other drawbacks. You can only see the top five linked pages. Overall, it’s good if you want an overview of who’s linking to you.

Everything Else

Most other programs are terrible and should be avoided completely. A common tactic used by these providers is to give you a free tool to convince you to buy their SEO services. The results won’t be genuine. You should make sure you use an independent tool. A poorly optimized crawler search is worthless to you and won’t help build your PageRank.

Why are you Getting Links?

You should look into why people are deciding to link to your website. There could be a diverse range of reasons. Visit these domains, once you know who’s linking to you, and begin your research.

A nest of fans might have opened a chat room to discuss your website. This is a positive reason why people might be linking to you. Other reasons include genuinely impressing someone or a product you’re selling has been given a review.

More Research Equals More Linking

Once you discover why people are linking to you there’s no reason why you can’t start targeting this group of people to encourage more links. If you find a product is creating a buzz it makes sense to include many of the most favored features in your future creations. The chances are it will mean more links and more interaction. You should also consider interacting with fans outside of your site to foster debate. These are proven ways of promoting more links.

Author’s bio:

The guest post is written by Sonia Jackson from http://www.cool-essays.com. She writes essays on different topics and can give you useful advice.